Completed in 1938 and assigned to the Black Sea Fleet, she participated in the Raid on Constanța on 26 June 1941, a few days after the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

While in Turkey, 40 officers and sailors traveled to Ankara to lay a wreath before the destroyer leader departed Istanbul on 25 November, returning to Sevastopol three days later after exercises in the Black Sea.

To practice this plan, she participated in exercises with the Red Army's 9th Special Rifle Corps between 4 and 19 June, supporting a mock amphibious landing on the west coast of Crimea, near Tendra.

[9] Following the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the squadron of the Black Sea Fleet was tasked with disrupting Axis supply lines by bombarding the Romanian port of Constanța and its oil tanks.

[9] For the raid, the heavy cruiser Voroshilov and Moskva were to cover the bombardment of the port by the latter's sister ship Kharkov and the destroyers Soobrazitelny and Smyshleny.

Moskva and Kharkov departed Sevastopol Bay at 20:10, initially heading towards Odessa as a deception measure and then turning towards their destination slightly more than an hour later, followed by the support group.

The former contributed 196 out of the 350 rounds fired between them at oil tanks and railway stations from a range of about 20 km (12 mi), blowing up an ammunition train and inflicting considerable damage.

As they were preparing to depart after having fired for 10 minutes, they were engaged by German coastal artillery and the Romanian destroyers Regina Maria and Mărăști at ranges between 11,000 to 16,000 m (12,000 to 17,000 yd).